Twelve Kingdoms

[Monk]

Is anyone a fan of the anime series Twelve Kingdoms? If not, I highly recommend it as it is easily one of the best anime series I have seen and it seems to be a natural sort of fit for those who enjoy Avatar.

The story centers around a girl named Youko Nakajima from Japan, who is suddenly transported to another world and eventually discovers that she is the queen of the kingdom of Kei. The world is based off of a mythical and medieval China and the focus of the series is about her adjusting herself to this world, coming into her own as a person, and the politics of the 12 Kingdoms (though you really only get to know a few of the nations). There is no real magical powers action in the anime, but I have found very few anime which can even compare to this story as it has a very linear and comprehensive plot that amounts to more than "who is the next superpowered villian(s) must our hero fight against to make the protagonist look cool."

[attonbitus]

I didn't watch the whole series about what i did was very good. What really attracted me was the depth of the world that its set in.

[Monk]

Yeah, I think that the first 5 episodes are probably the weakest in the entire series, as the protagonist Youko suffers from some serious lack of self-esteem and depression, so you cannot help but dread whether or not the rest of the series will be consumed by Angst-Fire. The other worry is that the basic premise of a girl who finds herself something of a ruler in an alternate world draws is a cause of worry in the beginning for a fear that it will simply turn into another Fushigi Yuugi, but it really does come into its own as you get to learn the rules will govern their world and the politics which that involves.

[spiritmage234]

I have just started watching this series yesterday night, and so far, it's pretty impressive. If it really grabs me, I'll purchase the series and the novels.

I like it because it's like a more serious version of the first series of Fushigi Yuugi (More series than Genbu Kaiden too, but I like Genbu Kaiden better than the first FY series because it's not totally lovey dovey). I'm surprised it's not a romance... But I'm surprised in a good way. Enough of these "teenaged high school misfits getting transported to another world and falling in love with the hot guy who gets her out of trouble" stories I say!